IMPD case evidence accidentally destroyed

Evidence in 27 Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department cases was destroyed late last year after a property room clerk inadvertently marked it for disposal, authorities say.

IMPD spokesman Lt. Chris Bailey said the blunder occurred as police were switching computer servers, leaving officers unable to electronically control and update some aspects of their casework.

While the system was down, paperwork related to those cases had to be handled by hand, and Bailey said the clerk working in the property room accidentally mixed up paperwork related to evidence, marking 149 pieces of narcotics evidence for disposal that should have been kept.

“When we switched servers, we went back to hands,” Bailey said. “It puts the responsibilities of all depositions in one lady’s hands.”

Bailey said 81 pieces of evidence were recovered before they were incinerated. Incineration is a standard practice with evidence marked for disposal. The 68 other pieces of evidence, however, were destroyed during a routine “drug burn” in November, he said.

Bailey said IMPD is working with the Marion County prosecutor’s office to determine the impact the incident will have on the 27 affected cases, though all of that evidence was at one point photographed, tested and weighed.

Former Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman said the lack of physical evidence could jeopardize some future cases.

“They may not be prosecutable without tangible evidence. The law is very literal about this,” Newman said. “If you don’t deliver those to the court, then you haven’t proved your case in many cases.”

Even with a lack of physical evidence, one affected case already has been prosecuted. Bailey said a jury convicted Marlin Long on felony drug charges last week based on photos and recorded documentation of the narcotics evidence officers had seized before they were destroyed.

Newman said that outcome could be possible in the future, but it depends on whether a jury believes guilt in spite of a lack of physical evidence.

“There’s an extra set of inferences the jury has to draw before it can conclude that it’s got what the guy’s tried for,” Newman said. “There may be enough circumstantial evidence, as there was in that case, if other links in the chain can help furnish the missing connection.”

The property room clerk, who has worked with the department for 24 years, is still working in the property room.

This incident is not the first mishap in the IMPD property room.

In April 2012, prosecutors disclosed that a vial of blood in former IMPD officer David Bisard’s 2010 drunken-driving case was inadvertently moved from a refrigerator in the property room to an uncooled place.

A court ruling allowed the vial to be used as evidence in Bisard’s criminal trial last fall. He was convicted on all charges and is serving a 16-year sentence, with three years suspended, at New Castle Correctional Facility.

Bailey said that incident led to extensive reviews of how evidence is handled in the property room, but there are still challenges.

“There’s been multiple things done to upgrade the property room,” Bailey said. “We’re working with some older systems. Upgrading all that stuff takes time and money.”